Sims is a 6-foot-, 185-pound athlete from El Mirage, Ariz. He played there at Liberty High School. Three years ago during the recruiting cycle he said he heard from Santa Clara and Santa Barbara and other teams on the West Coast.

But UTSA seemed the most interested.

Assistant coach Jeff Renegar connected with Sims’ club coach. Renegar visited the high school. Sims visted UTSA. It didn’t take him long to make up his mind.

In his first season at UTSA, teammates helped him through the transition to college. UTSA made it easier that year by winning the Southland Conference title.

As the Roadrunners advanced to the NCAA tournament, Sims went along for the ride in his first year out of high school.

“I got lucky,” he said. “When I got here, I was right on time.”

Breaking into the rotation was tough. He averaged 7.6 minutes a game as a freshman in 2010-11. He averaged 8.3 minutes last season.

This season, he has emerged as one of the team’s key players, averaging 28.1 minutes.

Though Sims remains UTSA’s fourth option on offense with a 5.9 scoring average, the secret is out. He can get hot if teams leave him alone on the perimeter.

Sims said he likes the way the team is playing.

Even though he and his teammates have lost six of seven, the Roadrunners have been pretty good in their last two.

They beat Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on the road by 30 points and then returned home after the Christmas break and nearly knocked off Utah State, one of the WAC’s marquee programs.

“We’re getting better and more confident,” he said. “We’re getting more comfortable with each other. Our potential is through the roof.”

Making a run at the conference title is not out of the question, he said.

“We could win it,” Sims said. “We played the preseason pick to win and we played ’em pretty close. We should have won.”